The present invention relates generally to multiplexing systems more particularly to a multiplexing system that provides a customer specified interface while using T1 lines to the customer premises.
The most popular U.S. standard interface for customer premises telecommunications equipment is a T1 line, which carries 24 channels at 64 kbits per second for a total of 1.544 Mbits per second. This is known as a T1 interface. In Europe, the most popular standard interface for customer premises equipment is a E1 line, which carries 32 channels at 2.048 Mbits per second. This is called an E1 interface.
In some cases, customers in the United States request E1 interfaces to their customer premise equipment. Currently, to meet this request, two T1 lines are provisioned directly to the customer premises, and a T1-to-E1 multiplexer/inverse multiplexer (MUX/IMUX) located on the customer premises interfaces to another MUX/IMUX located at the interexchange carrier's network point-of-presence (POP). As a result, 48 channels are set aside for communications to the customer premises, but only 32 are used. Consequently, 16 channels are wasted.
The present invention is therefore directed to the problem of developing a method and system for utilizing the unused channels without adversely impacting the existing setup.